A GUEST COLUMN
Take Another Hard Look
At The Proposed Budget (
BY HARRY AND BECKY
JOHNSON
To ihc editor:
It is a pity.
No, it is worse than that It is
both imprudent and unreasonable!
The proposed budget for
Brunswick County will deprive
thousands of our citizens, particu
larly the many new elderly retirees,
of much needed advanced, pre-hos
pital medical care while it provides
SI 25 ,000.00 to the library budget
Further, it will once again short
change the poor, mostly helpless
severely and permanently mentally
ill citizens of care they desperately
need and place an increasing burden
on already overburdened mental
health personnel to evaluate and
treat alcohol abusers caught for
driving under the influence, as man
dated by the courts, while furnish
ing funds for an enlarged driver's li
cense office so these same people
can get their licenses more quickly
to go back out and drive and drink
again.
Fully funding the "911" emergen
cy phone and dispatching system
for the county is a must. Thankfully,
this is included in the budget pro
posal. But not funding emergency
medical services sufficiently is fol
ly. To have a fully functional "911"
system wiihnut a fully funded ad
vanced life support EMS is like
buying an expensive rescue hcli
coptcr, but not providing funds to
pay pilots to fly it.
Some 32 people arc presently
working very hard to begin the
long, hard climb toward becoming
fully certified paramedics. Doug
Lcdgctt is working hard to set up a
system to see that our citizens will
have access to this level of ad
vanced care. With such a system in
place, some 15 percent of people
who suddenly drop "dead" of a
heart attack can be revived to once
again become useful, productive cit
izens. Without such a system, none
of them can be revived. This is not
bccausc the present volunteer res
cue squads want it that way. It is be
cause even expertly provided car
diopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
is effective for only a matter of four
to fiveminutes in almost all cases
wilhoBr the arrival of trained
paramedics who ca%. administer
countershock, or "defibrillation,"
along with intravenous drugs.
People seriously injured in acci
dents of all kinds need quick access
to intravenous fluids to help replace
blood lost-vital fluids which can be
administered while the victim is en
route to a nearby trauma center for
more definitive carc. The list goes
on and on, but these arc the most
striking examples of why we need
immediate funding for our newly
established Emergency Medical
Services division within the county.
As for the mentally ill, the devel
opmental^ disabled, and the sub
stance abusers in the county, they
are also getting short-changed bad
ly. The proposed budget calls for
only 75 percent funding of the re
quested amount. The Southeastern
Center, headquartered in Wilming
ton, requests funds from the three
counties it is responsible for servic
ing. Brunswick is one of those
counties. Naturally, what a given
county provides in funding is pretty
much all a given county will gel
back.
Many years ago, the federal gov
ernment declared that state mental
hospitals could not be used to sim
ply "warehouse" the seriously ill
patients. They would have to be re
turned to their respective communi
ties for long term carc. In Bruns
wick County, we have two full time
professionals and one part time pro
fessional to carc for these people.
Funding is desperately needed for
additional personnel, for day carc
programs, and for sheltered work
shop type facilities so that these
poor souls will not have to depend
entirely on their aging parents, or
perhaps on a sister who is married
and has a family of her own to care
for to look in on them once in a
while and hope they can keep them
from deteriorating to the point of
having to return to the state hospital
at Goldsboro.
In Brunswick County, we have
one full time professional to carc
for all of the children and adoles
cents who need long term outpatient
care and cannot afford private carc.
These arc the future adult citizens
of our county. What kind of ouUook
docs that give us for our future?
The state legislature is mandating
more and more mental health ser
vices in the way of evaluations and
treatment programs for alcohol and
drug abusers who run afoul of the
law. Certainly no one can argue
with the fact that there is a tremen
dous drug and alcohol abuse prob
lem in this county. We sec it daily in
our courts, and perhaps even worse,
in our hospital emergency rooms.
Yet, the local Mental Health Center
is staffed with only two full time
substance abuse counselors to pro
vide all of these mandated services
not to mention services that are not
mandated by the courts, but arc
sorely needed in our county.
This guest column is written as a
plea to the citizens and leaders of
our county to take another hard look
at the proposed budget.
I am sure the library needs more
funds, but a lack of these funds will
not kill people. The driver's license
office is small, granted, but this
docs not leave people dying at
home or on our streets for lack of
advanced prc-hospital medical care.
The county commissioners are
reasonable men trying to deal pru
dently with a fast growing, largely
poor, geographically huge county.
They need your input on just what
our priorities should be, and how
much wc arc willing to sacrificc to
obtain the services we need. They
will respond to the needs of our citi
zens if they get a dear mandate to
do so. It is up to us as concerned
citizens to give them that mandate.
"A penny saved is a penny
earned." An additional penny of
property tax earned by the county,
on ihc other hand, may mean many
lives and much misery saved.
Dr. (Harry) Johnson is medical
director of the Brunswick County
EMS, medical advisor to the county
EMS Advisory Council, emergency
physician at The Brunswick Hos
pital. and part lime physician con
sultant for the Mental Health Cen
ter in Bolivia.
Mrs. (Rebekah) Johnson is a
Registered Nurse with over 20 years
experience in the mental health
field, including experience in both
public and private inpatient hospi
tal care, and outpatient care. She is
currently a Mental Health II Nurse
at the Mental Health Center in
Bolivia where her primary respon
sibility is care of the severely and
persistently mentally ill, and, time
permitting, the less seriously ill
adults who need psychiatric coun
seling.
They live at Holden Beach.
/N
Harrelson's
Farm & Garden Center
Hwy. 17 Shallotte ? 754-^373
Fruit Trees ? Shrubs ? Roses
Hibiscus ? Bedding Plants
Lawn Seed, Plugs & Fertilizers
One Niqki (My
will bs pnESENiFtl by
C. Lane Ac/vdEMy of Dance
June 1st al 4:00 pm and 8:00 pm
NORTH MYRTLE BEACH HIGH SCHOOL
Old Hwy. 9, North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
7?
*
*
*
!
"TIif. AudiiioN"
j#
t
A
1st place winner In Showstoppers Regional Dance Competition.
C Lane Academy won over 10 1st place award* In 4 categories during Showsloppors neglonal Dance
Competition These and many more wHI be presented lor your entertainment
Studto Location* Tabor City. HC - LAtlef River. SC Instructor ft Director Chfitty Thompeon Lane
PHOTO BY BILL FAVIt
BIRDS , INSECTS, AND FROGS add to the music from singers on a summer night.
Sounds Of The Singers
RY BILL FAVER
Most of us can appreciate the singing of birds as
wc hear a mockingbird, brown thrasher, or Carolina
wren serenading us. They seem to sing for their own
reasons, although some scientists speculate they arc
declaring territory, attracting a mate, or expressing joy
for a beautiful day! Birds are joined by insects, toads
and frogs, and some sea creatures as the singers in na
ture.
Birds form their songs in their throats much as hu
mans do, using a syrinx, or sound box, at the bottom
of their windpipe. Wc humans use a larynx near the
top of our windpipe. Birds with deep voices, such as
the whooping crane, have a windpipe three to four
feet long. Some of the birds have no syrinx and no
voicc at all.
Many birds arc quiet during the middle of the day,
preferring to sing in the mornings or late evenings.
Some sing only at night, like the whipporwills. Some
sing during daylight and at night, like our mocking
birds, who enjoy singing during moonlit nights during
spring and summer.
Many birdwatchers depend upon bird songs to aid
in identification since the songs of no two spccies arc
alike. Some birds look so much alike that songs arc the
only way to distinguish them. Males arc the leading
singers in most spccics and use their singing to declare
territory and, in some spccics, to attract a mate.
Many of the insects, too, are singers, particularly
in the spring and summer seasons Grasshoppers,
crickets and kattydids "sing" by rubbing one part of
their body against another. This is called stridulating,
and some grasshoppers make the sound by dragging
their legs across the edges of the front wings. Male ci
cadas rapidly contract and relax special muscles to
make their continuous whirring. Songs of the inscct
species arc as different as those of the birds and can
be used in identification.
Frogs and toads arc also singers. The chirps and
choruses are produced when air passes over vocal
cords and the sound is resonated in air sacs in the
throats. Sounds at night around a pond can fill the air
with singing of the frogs.
Dolphins and porpoises join whales as the singers
in the sea. Some melodious songs, dirges, and
whistlings arc the singing recorded in the vast world
of the oceans.
This summer listen to the sounds around you
made by birds, frogs and insects. On a summer night
they can be most interesting and can help you relax
and enjoy this special place where land and sky and
sea converge.
The greatest opportunity you can give your child...
The Board of Directors
of
CAPE FEAR ACADEMY
PI
proudly announces
The 25th Anniversary Academic Fellowships
for students entering Grades 9-11 in the Fall of 1991
Available to area high school students with a demonstrated commitment to academic
excellence, leadership, extra-curricular involvement, and a well-rounded approach to
schoolwork and activities.
Substantial tuition grants to new students entering Grades 9-11, the 25th Anniversary
Academic Fellowships are renewable each year until graduation.
Deadline for applications: June 19,1991.
3900 South College Road
Wilmington, N.C. 28412
Contact:
Mrs. Susan Harrell
Director of Admissions
791-0287
Cape Fear Academy is a fully-accredited independent college preparatory school
which accepts students without regard to race, religion, or ethnic origin.
CI Ml THE BRUNSWICK BEACON
m
DISCOUNT
FURNITURE
WAREHOUSE
OF BRUNSWICK COUNTY, INC.
When you buy new furniture, you want it to last for many years We've been in
business for years and have provided many families with quality furniture. Our
fabrics are durable to stana up to children's rough play, ana our styles are
exquisite to make any room a show place. Whether you're looking for beach
cottage furniture or a new recliner for father's day, come see us!
Southport
DISCOUNT
FURNITURE
WAREHOUSE
LOWES^] Hwy. 133, Long Beach Rd.
Supply
We're just 1/4 mile past Lowe's
on Long Beach Road.
Make the
drive for
selection &
savings!
100% Financing^ FREE DELIVERY *
Open Mon ?
i 0-6